Death to Love a Soul Reaper
by tezike
Summary: Ichigo's apparent death raises questions within the Soul Society about the ethics of killing hallows for the good of humanity, and when he returns with a friend, that line becomes even more blurred as friendships are created while some are lost forever


**Disclaimer: I don't own bleach or any of Tite Kubo's work for that matter**

**Full Summery:** Ichigo's apparent death raises questions within the Soul Society about the ethics of killing hallows for the good of humanity, and when he returns with a 'friend', that line becomes even more blurred as friendships are created while some are lost forever. Byakuya Kuchiki intends on keeping those lines as clear as possible until a Hallow brakes his ever fragile beliefs.

**The Funeral**

It was raining. It always seemed to rain on occasions like this. Byakuya remembered it rained all those years ago when in wife died and just about every other day someone near to him passed into the æther. And the captain wouldn't have had it any other way. It seemed fitting to him. Rain was dreary and somber, so too should the people who attend funerals. They were not fun and games of course and everyone needed their deaths honored with the upmost somber respect; even Ichigo Kurosaki.

Byakuya glanced down at the casket where Kurosaki was laid. Next to the casket were two girls. One was red eyed with dry tears crusting on her cheek. The other was shaking; her fists clenched trying her hardest not to cry. She was quite peculiar to the Kuchiki noble, but he could not exactly put his figure on it. Had he been in his shinigami form he may have been able to determine why she was so odd to him, but in this gigai, his senses and skills were dulled considerably.

"Karin Kurosaki," called a voice from his left

"Hmm?" he asked, lifting his chin up so that his face kept away from the source. He peeked downwards to his left. It was Yaroichi Shihoin, Byakuya's old rival and mentor. He hadn't noticed her stealth right next to him at all. _This body is really troublesome_ he thought as he turned around to survey the rows of mourners behind him to see if they too hadn't noticed the ex-captain's arrival.

He had been sitting in the second row next to all the captains and Lieutenants who cared to show up. There were at least a dozen rows filled with people holding large umbrellas under the rainy skies that hovered over Karakura Town's local cemetery.

The Cemetery itself was very small and quaint, just like the funeral. There was a monk chanting prayers and Isshin Kurosaki was standing quietly in the corner with a miserable look on his face smoking several cigarettes in a row. He was standing to the far end of the funeral area next to a row of tables with cards scattered across it. Byakuya could not read them from where he was standing. The older Kurosaki had given a lengthy speech about how he felt responsible for Ichigo's passing earlier. It was greeted with the usual _'it wasn't your fault'_ and the predictable _'nobody could have predicted it'_ when someone blamed their self for another's demise.

Of course, most in attendance didn't know the true nature of Ichigo's death. Even some of the captains were still not totally clear on the circumstances of his demise. Byakuya was one of the few who knew in detail and he also knew that it wasn't entirely the man's fault. Isshin had merely miscalculated.

"She was Kurosaki's little sister," Yaroichi spoke again stepping under Byakuya's own umbrella. He didn't mind thought. The former assassin had usually assumed courtesies that he did not offer. He had gotten used to it over the years though. "She has the vision, you know. She can see the spirits."

That wasn't what caught the captain's attention. There was something more. The gift of sight hardly impressed him anymore. No, there was something else, something deeper.

"I believe that she could be as talented as Ichigo was as well one day. That whole damn family, there's something in their spiritual pressure," said Yaroichi shaking her head in disbelief.

"The Kurosaki boy was never that impressive. Things just fell conveniently in his path. Why are you telling me this anyway?" asked Byakuya

"You looked Curious," the woman replied smiling faintly. Byakuya stayed quiet. He usually kept silent when he did not understand something. He always discovered the answers eventually without much prodding or probing anyways. His silence also got under the skin of others which he liked.

But he never had much luck with Yaroichi. She could always see through all of his smoke and mirrors.

Byakuya refocused his attention on the precessions. Ichigo's family were placing incents at the head of his tomb stone while the ushers lowered the coffins underground and row by row the attendees who Byakuya guessed were mostly Ichigo's peers and their families began to line up and drop grey carnations on top of the casket which was now completely under. They would then walk over to a line of tables with cards on them, or at least that's what the funeral program told them to do. Each card held a Letter on one side and a list of names on the other.

Then the Kuchiki lord finally arrived at the table after dropping his almost perfect carnation. He located his card towards the right end of the table. It was laminated, which caused little droplets of rain to build up on its surface.

"What do you have there, Little Byakuya?" she asked teasingly snatching the card from his grasp. "O," she said flatly reading the large letter on the front of the card.

"I can see that," replied the squad six captain coolly.

Yaroichi flipped the card over and began to read the names "Kuchiki Byakuya, Urahara Kisuke, Kenpachi Zakari, and Yachiru Kusajishi. Who the hell is that?" she asked looking up. Byakuya just shrugged "and why are your names on these cards"

"You see that row of black cars over there?" asked Byakuya pointing at a caravan "they correspond to these card numbers. Some will be heading to the Soul Society while others will be taken to the Kurosaki Household I believe. You didn't read over the Program I assume." The woman had a puzzled look on her face

"Then why is Kisuke going to the Soul Society?" asked Yaroichi with a confused frown ignoring the last part of what Byakuya said.

"One can only assume he's going to pay his debts," replied Byakuya with a smirk, causing her to frown even more. "Or he could be getting rewarded, one or the other." Byakuya never really liked to see the princess frown. It was one of his weaknesses and one he would never like to escape to the public.

"Hey, Princess Shihion! It looks like will be riding with us," called a Strawberry Blond Soul Reaper with a questionably short Black dress pointing at a card excitedly. She was on the other side of the crowd of people now looking for their names.

Yaroichi smiled and waved at the squad 10 Lieutenant then turned back to Byakuya. "Nice to finally see you again on friendlier terms," she said smiling. She quickly leant over and kissed him on his cheek, then disappeared under the Crowd of Black umbrellas not allowing him to respond and leaving Byakuya there shocked.

He rubbed his cheek, regained his composure, and then started towards the Caravan of black cars.

He made one final glance at ichigo's tomb

"Goodbye Kurosaki… I suppose," he whispered quietly then continued for the cars.

Kisuke Urahara was already waiting at the car. His eyes seemed closed to Byakuya who had finally reached the other side of the cemetery. He was one of the firsts too arrive.

"We can only hope that Captain Zakari is as punctual as you, Captain Kuchiki," began the ex-soul reaper.

"We all owe you a great deal of thanks master Urahara. I never got the chance to tell you" replied the captain diplomatically reaching out to shake Urahara's hand

"Yeah you did. You probably just weren't sure whether associations with him were toxic to your career," called a voice from behind Byakuya. Both men turned around to see Kenpachi strolling up to the car with a giant smirk on his face.

"Why, hello Captain Zakari," called out Kisuke

"You're surprisingly respectful, aren't you?" asked the Squad eleven leader mockingly. He was eyeing the shop owner up and down with a devilish grin on his face. "You don't look _that_ tough at all. I'm surprised you were even a captain. How the hell did you defeat Aizen?" Urahara just stared at the man.

"You know, in the Soul Society I would have gladly shown you first had," the ex-shinigami finally said. That caused Kenpachi's grin to turn in into an even more sadistic one.

"We can go right here and now if you want?" asked Kenpachi threatening as walking over to Urahara.

"No, I wouldn't like that. What I would like is for you to get in the car," the ex-soul reaper said flatly opening the back door of the car. Byakuya could tell that the yellow haired man was not to be trifled with. Deep down inside Byakuya always thought that the current set of captains in the Gotei Thirteen were the most capable ever, but as he stared at Urahara he started to wonder whether that sentiment was really true.

"Get In the car, Kenpachi, you wouldn't want to get your suit dirty" the Kuchiki ordered calmly, still staring at Urahara. The other captain just growled and then finally ducked under the hood cursing under his breath. Urahara just smiled back at the captain then disappeared inside the car.

Byakuya glanced back down towards the cemetery. There were many groups of four heading his direction. He couldn't find Yaroichi or Karin Kurosaki in the small crowds. _Damn this body_ he thought before folding his umbrella and finally entering the car.

Inside the car was also black. The seats were leather and it smelled faintly like expensive cologne.

There were two sears which were occupied by Kenpachi and a small girl in black floral Sunday dress and larger Sunday hat with pink hair. She too looked like she had had been crying a profuse amount. On the opposite side sat Urahara and an empty seat for him and in the middle was a black table with four glassed and a champagne glasses.

"So you're Yachiru Kusajishi?" Byakuya mumbled

"Huh?" the girl sniffed looking up. Byakuya shook his head and gazed outside to window to avoid her gaze.

"Which location shall I be taking you four?' asked a voice from the front.

"My shop, answered Urahara, and they drove off, the first to leave actually. And it made sense Byakuya guessed still looking out the window as they drove thought Karakura town. _I wonder what Aizen liked about this place_ he thought carelessly as he looked on unimpressed.

Urahara's shop was small and unassuming, surrounded by large white modern buildings that looked as if to swallow the little relic of a very much bygone era whole. As Byakuya exited the black limousine, many more of the same likeness was beginning to pour in between the alley ways of the modern buildings, like rats in a maze descending on a block of cheese.

Byakuya ascended up the stairs towards the shop and was greeted by two young children, a boy and a girl, both wearing black. The girl was carrying a basket in her left hand filled with indiscernible round objects wrapped in purple. She dug her hand in the basket plucked one of the pieces at random and stretched her arm out towards the captain of Squad Six.

"Soul candy," she murmured. Her voice was no higher than a whisper.

"Thank you" replied Byakuya. His voice was slightly hoarse. He hadn't said a word the entire ride to the shop unlike Kempachi who seemed to have it in for Urahara. Apparently the defeat of Aizen without the captain of the eleventh Squad having a go was an insult unto existence itself. Suffice to say the car ride to the shop was very annoying to Byakuya who just stared out window into the grey of the wet rainy city

Byakuya reached out and grabbed the candy from the girl's out stretched arm and proceeded to enter the shop. It was quiet and immaculate and very much how a sweetshop was supposed to look like. He had been expecting a high tech hideaway of a formerly disgraced captain of the Science division with paranoia induced defense systems. Instead he found racks of potato chips magazines and other conveniences.

The shop slowly became noisier as the rest of the shinigami streamed into the shop which was about half a dozen of the captains and their lieutenants.

"Captain Kuchiki!" called a familiar voice. It was his red haired and tattooed second in command, Renji Abarai. Next to him was Rukia. Her eyes were red and puffy. She had definitely been crying. On a normal day he would have told her to stop disgracing the Kuchiki name by showing her weakness, but today was not a normal day; In her case especially. Byakuya saw the way she looked at Ichigo when they were around it each other. It was the same look Hisana gave him when she was alike, pure devotion.

Rukia never glanced up at her brother. She only stalked off towards the back room of the shop with Renji not far behind.

"If you would all please make your way to the back of my little store so we can all return to the Soul Society," began Urahara, pointing at the far end of his shop where Rukia had just entered. "I assure you, it's far more interesting than in here," he finished with a smirk. A small laughter filled the room but it subsided as quickly as it came. The store keeper guided the shinigami to his lab.

"I swear. The locking of the Senkaimon is so troublesome," muttered Masumoto, who was tugging down at the hem of her black dress. There was a grumble of agreement. Even Byakuya felt inclined to believe her.

Ever since Aizen was captured the, gate had been closed and locked and everyone, except for the Captain Commander was banned from attempting to use them. Instead, one would have to go through the most intensely dense bureaucratic system ever conceived. At least it seemed that way to Byakuya. It was deterrence enough.

Urahara's back room was actually exactly the same as the front, except here were no racks of candy, nor was there a counter with a register. Instead it was just an empty space. Off to one side was Rukia who seemed to have just wiped away a new set of tears as the captains filed in room. Besides her was Renji who was crouching down besides her with his hand on her shoulder and a solemn look on his face. In the center of the room was a giant arrangement of rocks that looked as if they had been lifted from Stonehenge itself. Byakuya, knowing Kisuke Urahara, wouldn't put it past him.

"As you all know, there have been extra restraints added to the soul society for safety reasons. The soul society will open from their side at six o'clock sharp. So we have precisely twenty-one minutes. I suggest you eat your soul candy now." Urahara disappeared behind a door off to the right and returned with a rack filled with hangers

"And would you be so kind as to hang your gigais up yourself. It would be most appreciated." It appeared that in the very short space of time it took him to get the rack, he had changed into his usual garb of. His wooden sandals clonked softly on the wooden floor.

What a weird man wondered Byakuya as he unwrapped and placed the soul candy in his mouth. He felt a jolt and instantly he was back to his old self. He dusted himself off then turned back to the empty gigai shell which lay lifelessly on the ground. He picked it up and quickly placed it on the rack. Then not knowing what to do with himself, he strode over to Rukia who had also just exited her gigai. It was strewn awkwardly besides her.

"Sorry Byakuya," whispered a week voice. It was raspy and rough.

Byakuya thought carefully then began. "Don't be. It understandable. However don't allow it to hinder your performance in the Soul Society." He wanted to sound as measured as possible. To be the glorious big brother she thought he was.

Rukia just nodded. Byakuya situated himself next to her and sat on the floor

"I just wanted to see him one last time…" her voice trailed off and she closed her eyes. She rested her head on Byakuya's shoulder and didn't say another word.

**a/n: This is a story I am redoing. Please leave a review. I hope you like. I will try and update this story every two weeks or so.**


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